Etymologies

Hebrew sāmek, of Phoenician origin; see smk in Semitic roots.

(American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

A completely different approach is expressed in the midrash that observes that the letter samekh does not appear from the beginning of Genesis until the creation of Eve, until Gen. 2: 21, which states: “and closed up [va-yisgor] the flesh at that spot.”

The Rabbis object, noting that the letter samekh appears in the Torah before this, in Gen. 2: 11, 13: “the one that winds through [ha-sovev]”; the answer given is that verses 11 and 13 speak of the creation of the rivers, and not that of the human race (Gen. Rabbah 17: 6).